Joe came up to the majors in 1936. Four years older than I was, he became a bona fide star right away, winning Rookie of the Year, even though a fellow by the name of Bo Bell had a great year in St. Louis.

Joe was the toughest right-handed hitter I ever faced. He could not hit a sinker and I, ironically, could not throw a sinker. Joe could not hit Mel Harder or Bob Lemon very well because they were sinker ball pitchers. Joe was an excellent fastball hitter, however, and hit me well. He had a spread batting stance and would pull the ball. However, his wide stance made it difficult for him to move. He was a sweep hitter and if you threw a ball close to him he was going to get a hit. But he often could not get out of the way of an inside pitch because of this wide batting stance.

I used to pitch him outside a lot because I didn’t want to hit him and he just kept wearing me out. Finally I got enough nerve to pitch him inside, though. I then started to have success with Joe DiMaggio.

Joe was an excellent center fielder. He had an exceptionally accurate arm, as well as great intuition. He knew where to play the ball to get the best possible jump on it. However, his one foible was that he could not run the bases too well. He was a pretty decent base runner as far as intuition goes, but he could not steal bases. He could not get the same jump on a pitcher on the base paths as a runner that he could as a center fielder on balls hit to the outfield. When a ball was hit to the outfield, he could take off and arrive in plenty of time. When it came to getting a jump on the pitcher to steal a base, however, he just didn’t shine. DiMaggio was a dramatic player, however, and his image of greatness is well deserved because of his hitting ability, his fielding ability, and his persona on and off the field. His marriage to Marilyn Monroe gave him much unnecessary publicity, which perhaps was unfortunate for Joe’s sake.

If you were a National League fan you might say Willie Mays or Duke Snider was the best at center field. However, I didn’t see much of them and, being an American League player, I’d have to give the nod to Joe DiMaggio as my top pick in center field for my era. I considered my friendship with Joe to be something special and was proud to play in his charity Joe DiMaggio Classic to benefit the Fort Lauderdale Children’s Hospital. Baseball will miss Joe.

His lifetime stats deserve recognition. Here was a man who lost time to World War II and still compiled a lifetime batting average of .325 and a slugging percentage of .579. Joe was a two-time batting champion and, more important, a three-time American League Most Valuable Player. His 56-consecutive-game hitting streak still stands and will always be a great baseball feat.

The day that 56-game hitting streak came to an end I was in the Cleveland dugout. The game was played in Municipal Stadium in Cleveland, and Joe hit some very hard ground balls on short hops down the left field line. Lou Boudreau made a very good play that day on a ball that took a bad hop. Boudreau bare-handed it and threw to first for the putout. Joe, throughout the entire night of hard-hit ground balls, never showed any emotion. He didn’t kick first base, or second base, or the dirt. He headed toward the dugout as if he’d hit the ball out of the ballpark. I’m sure, knowing Joe, that it was all built up inside him. Joe was a class act on and off the field.

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